Baltimore Battalion Chief Hurt in Crash While Responding

May 5, 2014
Four civilians also were hurt in the collision.

May 05--A Baltimore Fire Department battalion chief responding to an apartment fire was critically injured Sunday evening in a three-car crash that left four other motorists injured, authorities said.

The battalion chief was at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in critical condition after being injured in the accident at Cold Spring Lane and Loch Raven Boulevard, officials said. His department SUV was hit as he was responding to a fire in the 6400 block of Walther Ave. just before 6 p.m.

Four civilian motorists were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, Fire Department spokesman Ian Brennan said. Three were seriously hurt and the fourth had minor injuries, Brennan said.

He declined to release the name of the injured fire official, who oversees operations in North Baltimore as one of the city's six battalion chiefs.

City police said they were investigating the cause of the crash Sunday night and compiling a report on how it unfolded. Officers closed part of Cold Spring Lane and were routing traffic away from the damaged vehicles at the intersection on the edge of the city's New Northwood neighborhood.

William Lloyd stood on the sidewalk looking at the mangled vehicles and waiting for investigators to arrive. Lloyd said his 27-year-old daughter, Meghan Lloyd, had been driving north on Loch Raven heading home from work when she stopped for a fire truck traveling east on Cold Spring with its sirens and lights on.

She told her father she never saw the battalion chief's red SUV following the engine until her Honda and the SUV collided, he said.

Lloyd said his daughter was recovering at an area hospital with a broken arm and leg.

Authorities did not say how the crash occurred or how the third car was hit.

The Fire Department will perform an internal investigation, as is standard departmental protocol for any firefighter-involved crash, Brennan said.

The Walther Avenue call was for a kitchen fire that was quickly extinguished, he said.

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